Probed oil firm linked to Pombo

Thursday

Sep 7, 2006 at 12:01 AMSep 7, 2006 at 7:43 AM

SACRAMENTO - An Alaskan oil services company under federal investigation in connection with allegations of influence peddling has contributed nearly $18,000 to Rep. Richard Pombo of Tracy, a Record analysis of federal campaign finance records shows.

Hank Shaw

SACRAMENTO - An Alaskan oil services company under federal investigation in connection with allegations of influence peddling has contributed nearly $18,000 to Rep. Richard Pombo of Tracy, a Record analysis of federal campaign finance records shows.

The investigation sparked a Washington state candidate for the U.S. Senate to return his contributions from Anchorage-based VECO Corp. the day after the FBI raided offices of several Alaskan state legislators last week.

Pombo's spokesman Carl Fogliani said they are keeping the cash for now.

"We've got thousands of contributors," Fogliani said. "If a problem arises with one of them, we have a policy to give the money to charity.

"But we don't know enough at this point to make any decision."

VECO is under investigation for possibly strong-arming Alaskan lawmakers during a debate over how that state taxes the oil industry. Various media reports suggest the FBI investigation may be wider, although investigators are not talking.

"It seems like every week there's some new scandal or rumor coming to light about Congressman Pombo's behavior," McNerney said. "If we want people to believe in their government, we need a new direction in Congress."

Washington state Republican Mike McGavrick, who hopes to unseat U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell this fall, on Friday returned $14,000 he had received from VECO executives.

A McGavrick spokesman told The Associated Press that the campaign wanted to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

VECO has been one of the chief companies lobbying to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, while Pombo has been one of Congress' chief cheerleaders for drilling in the refuge since he was first elected in 1992.

A Record analysis of federal campaign finance reports shows Pombo's two political committees have received at least $250,000 from the oil and energy industry since last year, among the largest amounts to any member of Congress.

Pombo has tried - and failed - to bring drilling to the area several times since he became chairman of the House Resources Committee in 2003. Most Democrats and many Eastern Republicans oppose drilling in ANWR for environmental reasons.

VECO began contributing to Pombo a year after he became chairman and catered a fundraiser for him in August 2005, records show. Five company executives gave Pombo a total of $7,000 on April 27 of this year.

One of them, Bill Allen, co-chaired George W. Bush's Alaskan campaign in 2000. Allen is VECO's chief political operative, according to an interview with company President Pete Leathard in an industry newsletter last year.

"Bill Allen puts a lot of effort into politics. I do, too, but he's the lead person by far," Leathard told Alexander's Gas and Oil Connections. Leathard said the firm spends a great deal of time trying to elect Alaskan lawmakers who "think pretty well like us."

Should the FBI indict VECO or its executives, Fogliani said they likely would donate the contributions to a charity such as the Boys & Girls Club, as they have three times before this election cycle.

Pombo donated the $7,000 he had received from felonious Indian gaming lobbyist Jack Abramoff, $2,000 from disgraced San Diego Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and $1,000 from indicted Abramoff associate Joe Volz.